THE furious mother of a three-year-old boy who was mown down on the pavement by a scrambler motorbike is appealing for help to bring the rider to justice.

THE furious mother of a three-year-old boy who was mown down on the pavement by a scrambler motorbike is appealing for help to bring the rider to justice.

Stacey McGovern, 21, says the rider hit her son Arron Hayes as he stood on the pavement outside their home and then rode off, "leaving him for dead".

Arron was rushed to Wythenshawe Hospital with serious head injuries and doctors considered giving him a CAT scan. After a second examination it was decided a scan was not needed, but Arron will visit an eye hospital in the next few days to discover whether his sight has been permanently affected.

Stacey said: "I'm absolutely disgusted that he just rode off after hitting Arron, leaving him for dead. When you hear the words CAT scan it's a horrible feeling, I just panicked, but fortunately he is recovering now.

"He's only three and his head swelled up like a balloon. He's been very brave but has a big black eye and will have to go to the eye hospital to check whether the eye itself has been bruised.

"The rider had a helmet on. If he's sensible enough to do that he should be sensible enough to keep off pavements and at least stop after something like this."

Arron was run over at about 10am on Saturday, May 27.

"We were packing to go on holiday," said Stacey. "I was in the house and then Arron's cousin Nathan Jackson, who's 14, carried him in and told us he'd been run over. Arron had heard the motorbike coming and left the garden to have a look, and he was hit.

"Arron was lying on the floor when he left him, he could easily have been dead.

"The bike didn't have a registration plate. Hopefully, after seeing Arron's injuries, people will come forward and identify the rider to the police."

The police and Manchester council have joined forces to adopt a zero tolerance approach to off-road bikes and are planning to step up the campaign during the summer months. Officers confiscated 14 bikes in Gorton during a half-term crackdown, including five motorcross bikes and two motorised scooters in one morning alone.

Insp Adrian Hopkins, from the Wythenshawe police, said: "This incident clearly demonstrates the danger that off-road bikes, go-peds, scooters, scramblers and other similar vehicles pose to the public. Riders are putting lives in danger, as well as having a detrimental effect on residents' quality of life.

"I would remind people that it is illegal to ride these vehicles on public roads, pavements and grasslands. Steve Mycio, the council's deputy chief executive, said: "These bikes are being ridden with no regard for residents. They are noisy, disruptive and dangerous and we are determined that those who continue to flout the law will be dealt with."